It’s studio shoot day today for a slew of new gadgets.
From Left: Huawei MatePad 11 (2023) with Smart Keyboard and M-Pencil, Huawei Watch Buds, and Huawei Mate X3.
First off the block is the Huawei Mate X3, Huawei Watch Buds and Huawei MatePad 11 (2023), seen in this photo.
Also shot today is the Acer Swift Go 14; the Sony Xperia 5 IV; the PRISM+ Q75 Ultra; the Dell Pro Webcam; and the Belkin power bank cum wireless charger for Apple Watch.
Stay tuned for reviews.
If you’re looking for a house-warming gift (with a budget of roughly S$800) to help a friend keep the home clean, get him/her a Roborock S8.
The Roborock S8 robot vacuum mop is priced at S$799 in Singapore but you can get discounts if you wait for the monthly online sales from their official store on Shopee.
The Roborock S8 series is the latest flagship lineup of robot vacuum mops for cleaning homes.
It comprises the basic S8 vacuum mop, the S8+ (with dustbin auto-emptying dock), and the top end S8 Pro Ultra (with auto-emptying, mop auto-washing, water tank auto-refiling, mop-cloth auto-drying dock).
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Roborock S8 robot vacuum mop freshly unboxed.
I’ve been trying out the S8 robot vacuum mop and it’s a good basic robot cleaner with no frills which keeps the home dust and dirt free.
The following key highlights of the S8 makes it a more effective and intelligent floor cleaner.
I helped a friend persuade her mother to use a robot vacuum-mop to help her clean her home. The initial push back was steep, but the outcome was sweet and rewarding. Here’s a reference for those trying to persuade their seniors at home to accept a robot vacuum-mop into their house-cleaning arsenal.
The S7 MaxV Ultra is Roborock’s current flagship model and embodies the latest features and technologies in robot vacuum-mops. Look out for the new S8 coming to the region soon.
Robot vacuums have successfully captured the market for the young and tech-savvy professionals, because the robot-cleaners relieve them of the tedious and time-consuming chores of house cleaning to free up precious time from their busy schedules.
Another market which needs the help of robot vacuums, however, has seen limited success – seniors for whom cleaning is physically demanding and sometimes painful.
Useful features and advanced technologies to look out for when looking for a robot vacuum mop.
Two hurdles to seniors accepting robot vacuums into their house-cleaning toolkit is their skepticism on whether the robots can do a good cleaning job, and general apprehension/fear of technology.
With the rapid development in robot vacuum technologies and features, the former is a rather moot point since robot vacuums these days tend to be able to do a pretty good job at vacuuming and mopping the home.
#tech4travel: When I’m on road or go on vacation, the most important laptop accessory I bring along is the Belkin Connect USB-C 7-in-1 Multiport Hub Adapter, which expands the limited connectivity options on the ultraportable laptop that I bring along.
The Belkin Connect USB-C 7-in-1 Multiport Hub Adapter is a must-have accessory for my ultraportable laptop when I’m on vacation and on the road.
For full connectivity on my Work From Home workspace, the centerpiece is my Belkin Connect USB-C 11-in-1 Multiport Dock, which provides full compatibility and connectivity for my laptop to other devices and peripherals, including those using legacy ports such as VGA ports.
When I go on vacation, or present at clients’ offices, I usually bring an ultraportable laptop which has a limited number of physical ports for the sake of compactness.
The Belkin Connect USB-C 7-in-1 Multiport Hub Adapter has an RRP of S$109 in Singapore.
There are actually some ultraportable laptops out there that have a sum total of ONE USB-C port!
#t4tWorkFromHome: One of the most important accessories on my Work From Home setup is the Belkin Connect USB-C 11-in-1 Multiport Dock, because it turns my laptop into a well-connected workstation.
The Belkin Connect USB-C 11-in-1 Multiport Dock is the connection central for my Work-From-Home setup.
The Belkin Connect USB-C 11-in-1 Multiport Dock enables me to connect my laptop to a whole host of other devices and peripherals without having to worry about a shortage of ports on my laptop, especially when using an ultraportable laptop which usually suffers from a dearth of ports.
The Belkin Connect USB-C 11-in-1 Multiport Dock has an RRP of S$149 in Singapore.
The 11-in-1 Multiport Dock also allows my laptop to connect to other devices when the laptop does not have the correct port (e.g HDMI or Ethernet ports) or the connected device still uses legacy ports (eg. VGA video port).
This can come in useful when going to a new presentation venue and you’re not sure what kind of devices (and connectors) the venue uses.
So on my workspace at home, my laptop is connected to an external monitor via the HDMI port on the 11-in-1 Multiport Dock.
My ultraportable doesn’t have an HDMI port so the dock is a godsend in hooking up my ultraportable to the 4K monitor.
The 11-in-1 Multiport Dock also has DisplayPort and VGA video ports as well.
For power, the Multiport Dock supports pass-through charging up to 100W.
tech4travel: The BoostCharge Pro 65W wall charger from Belkin is a compact yet powerful charger that is really useful when travellng.
I’ve been using this 65W GaN charger for a few weeks now and it’s really handy when I work outside of home or office.
At home and at the office, my mainstay charger is the Belkin BoostCharge Pro 4-Port 108W GaN Charger.
Once I hit the road, my charger of choice is the Belkin BoostCharge Pro 65W Dual USB-C GaN Wall Charger with PPS.
The charger comes with a 2m power cable in the box.
This is because of how compact and lightweight it is.
I normally just leave it in the bag and reach for it when I settle down in a cafe or at a meeting room.
The powerful 65W wall charger comes with two USB-C ports for charging two devices simultaneously.
The top port is able to charge a MacBook Pro at 65W when used alone.
When both ports are in use, the top port pumps out 45W while the bottom outputs a maximum of 20W.
Every month of the year, we see a major online sale eg. 9.9, 10.10, 11.11 sales. For October’s 10.10 sale, the bargain has got to be the Huawei MatePad Pro 10.8-inch tablet which is going for less than half its original launch pricing from a year ago.
The best bargain for Huawei’s 10.10 online sale and year-end promotions is the MatePad Pro 10.8-inch tablet.
My wife has been using the Huawei MatePad Pro 10.8” tablet since it was launched in August last year.
At launch, its RRP was S$998, excluding S$206 for the optional Flip Cover (S$58) and Huawei M-Pencil (2nd generation, S$148).
Check out Huawei’s promotional discounts for 10.10 sale on Shopee and Lazada. Click to enlarge.
For this year’s 10.10 online sale, Huawei is selling the MatePad Pro (10.8”) on Shopee and Lazada at only S$498 from 10-12 October 2022.
And if you head down to Huawei Authorised Stores at 313@Somerset and Westgate, you get the Flip Cover and M-Pencil free as part of Huawei’s year-end promotions which last for the entire months of October and November.
Huawei also has a year-end promotion for the months of October and November 2022. Click to enlarge.
Besides the MatePad Pro, many other Huawei devices are also on offer at steep discounts (up to 50% off) accompanied by freebies (up to S$496) – for both the 10.10 online sale and the year-end promotions.
The Google Pixel 6a (S$749) and Pixel Buds Pro (S$299) are now available for pre-orders in Singapore. Both will physically hit the shelves on 28 July 2022. Thanks to Google Singapore, I have been trying out the Pixel 6a for the past month. Here’s a quick 5-min review of its highlights.
The Google Pixel 6a and case freshly unboxed. I like the sage colour and glass back although none of that is visible once you slap on the phone case.
The Google Pixel 6a ships with Android 12 and is positioned as a premium phone at a more affordable price.
It is priced higher than the previous mid-tier Pixel “a”-subseries phones (eg. the launch price for the Pixel 4a was only S$499) and sits at the top of the mid-range market in terms of price tag.
Google Pixel 6a coming to Singapore.
The Pixel 6a is powered by Google Tensor – the same chip behind Google’s flagship Pixel 6 phones.
Some of the features that the Pixel 6a shares with the flagship Pixel 6 Pro include Magic Eraser, Real Tone, Night Sight and live translation.
So in a sense the Pixel 6a can be also seen as Pixel 6 “Lite” ie. the starting model of a flagship model.
In reality, it straddles the gap between the flagship phone segment and the mid-range segment.
For those hesitant to purchase the Google 6 series, you can consider the Pixel 6a with slightly lower feature set, at a correspondingly lower price.
Having jazzed up my home entertainment space with smart accented lighting by two Philips Hue Play light bars, I decided to up the ante to sync the lighting effects with the movies that I was watching on my TV, as well as my music and gaming – to achieve a more immersive experience.
The Philips Hue Play HDMI Sync Box is a fantastic way to liven up your entertainment space for movies, gaming and music. Before (bottom) and After (top). Note how the corresponding coloured light leaps off the TV onto the surroundings.
We are all familiar with surround sound, where the sound is expanded beyond a mono or stereo speakers to encapsulate the listener for a more immersive audio experience.
Signify is offering surround lighting with its Philips Hue Play HDMI Sync Box (RRP: S$419) – extending the visual experience from the confines of the television (or computer monitor) to beyond the display itself to the surroundings.
What you’ll need to set up a synchronised surround lighting from scratch (sold separately): Philips Hue Play HDMI Sync Box, Philips Hue Play light bars, Philips Hue Bridge. You’ll also need the free Philips Hue app and Philips Hue Sync apps to set up and program the lights and synchronisation.
You can set this up by emplacing Philips Hue smart lights around the TV and then syncing the colours and intensities of these lights to whatever is displayed on the TV screen.
Want to jazz up your home or entertainment space with smart accented lighting that enhances the ambience and atmosphere? The Philips Hue Play light bars transform your living space instantly and easily provide immersive lighting to better enjoy your movies, games and music.
The Philips Hue Play light bars are an easy way to set up smart accented lighting to enhance the ambience of your entertainment space. Before (bottom) and After (top).
I’d installed a 65-inch Android TV from Prism+ in my living room a few months back and had been enjoying the big screen experience at home.
The basic box set for the Philips Hue Play light bar comes in a pack of two at an RRP of S$209. Currently selling online at S$146.
But that living space was a tad boring with the TV sitting on a plain cabinet against a blank wall – even though the yellow wall had been painted with an arty sponge effect.
To add some coloured ambient lighting, I got a pair of Philips Hue Play light bars and stood them on either side of the TV, atop the TV cabinet.
The light bars were really easy to set up and took all of five minutes: simply plug each light into the smart plug that came with the Hue Play light bar double pack, stick that plug into the power socket and switch on.
